Jetson Customize Camera
NVIDIAOfficialCreated by Jetson TeamDistributed by NVIDIA
- Skill
- Workflow
- Software development
- Apache-2.0
- Medium risk
AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
This skill automates the bring-up of MIPI and GMSL camera sensors on custom Jetson Thor or Orin carrier boards. It functions by rendering a kernel-DT overlay from in-tree sensor DTSI files, ensuring correct wiring and configuration without requiring manual ODMDATA or UPHY lane adjustments. The process is agentic, utilizing a structured workflow to verify carrier and module support, generate the necessary device tree fragments, and validate the final composite overlay before compilation.
What it does
- Enumerates supported sensors from in-tree DTBO files.
- Cross-references carrier and module support against official documentation.
- Generates and appends a single camera-tagged fragment to the composite custom overlay.
- Verifies ancillary pin configurations like I2C, clocks, and GPIOs.
- Validates the final device tree structure using dtc and fdtoverlay.
- Automates the commit process for the hardware repository.
When to use it
- When configuring a new MIPI or GMSL camera sensor on a custom Jetson carrier board.
- When a camera is physically connected but fails to enumerate in v4l2-ctl.
- When adding additional sensors to an existing multi-sensor Jetson platform.
- When you need to ensure correct CSI port plumbing and sensor driver binding.
Advantages
- Reduces manual errors by using in-tree DTSI files as the source of truth.
- Prevents common pitfalls like dual-fragment conflicts or incorrect port indexing.
- Maintains a clean, idempotent workflow for hardware customization.
- Ensures compatibility with the existing BSP and flash-conf registration.
Usage examples
- “Enable the IMX274 camera on my custom Orin carrier board.”
- The agent identifies the sensor, verifies the carrier pinmap, generates the required kernel-DT overlay fragment, and commits it to the BSP source repository.
- “I need to add a GMSL camera to my existing Jetson Thor setup.”
- The agent performs a multi-sensor bring-up check, splices the necessary GMSL serdes configuration into the composite overlay, and validates the new endpoint connections.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/nvidia/jetson-customize-camera/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip jetson-customize-camera.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by Jetson Team
Customize camera (CSI / MIPI / GMSL sensor bring-up)
Overview
Tegra264 (Thor) and Tegra234 (Orin) expose a single tegra-capture-vi
controller fronted by NVCSI and a fixed set of CSI ports. Camera
bring-up is:
Sensor selection — picked from the set NVIDIA ships in-tree
.dtsireferences for on the active platform.Carrier + module support check — verified against the Camera Development Guide, Adaptation Guide §Camera, carrier schematic, Module TRM, and carrier pinmap.
Wiring — derived from the in-tree
tegra<soc>-camera-<sensor>*.dtsiwhen one exists (the DTSI IS the wiring source of truth); captured per-sensor from the user when the sensor is custom.Kernel-DT overlay — cpp-expand the in-tree DTSI, extract its
fragment@Nbody, append into the composite custom overlay.dtsfor the active target (per../../references/bsp-customization-kernel-dtb.md), verify the composite withfdtoverlay./jetson-build-sourcecompiles the composite and owns the carrier conf'sOVERLAY_DTB_FILE+=registration.
Agentic, not table-driven — sensor list is built at runtime by
globbing in-tree per-sensor dtbos. No _THOR_CAMERAS dict, no
questions.json, no Python renderer in the question path.
No ODMDATA edit — cameras don't consume UPHY lanes (CSI is a separate PHY pool). The skill emits only a kernel-DT overlay; the ODMDATA line in the carrier conf is untouched by this skill.
The output is one commit:
Camera
fragment@Nblock (plusjetson-header-nameon the composite root if not already present) appended to the composite custom overlay.dtsper../../references/bsp-customization-kernel-dtb.md→ committed to thebsp_sources/hardware repo./jetson-build-sourcecompiles the composite to.dtboand owns its Makefile + flash-conf registration.
When to invoke
The user says "enable camera", "configure CSI", "wire a Hawk / Owl / IMX sensor", "MIPI camera", "GMSL camera", or asks to bring up
tegra-capture-vi/ NVCSI on a custom carrier.Flash boots but
v4l2-ctl --list-devicesshows notegra-capture-vichannels, OR sensor enumeration on a fresh daughter-card needs to be confirmed.A sensor was previously enabled and the user wants to add another (multi-sensor bring-up).
Prerequisites:
Active profile with
reference_devkit:+custom_carrier:blocks.<source.root_path>/Linux_for_Tegra/.gitexists (/jetson-init-source)./jetson-derive-carrierhas run — the carrier flash-conf fork is in the overlay tracker.<source.root_path>/bsp_sources/hardware/nvidia/<chip-dir>/nv-public/overlay/exists and contains the in-tree per-sensor.dtsifiles (sourced by/jetson-init-source's Branch A archive extract).<source.root_path>/bsp_sources/kernel/kernel-noble/include/dt-bindings/contains the macro headers cpp needs (source_sync.shmay need to run if Branch B was used — see Step 5a.i below).Source-of-truth docs registered or supplied at prompt: Camera Development Guide (in
bsp_developer_guidemirror or separate path), Adaptation Guide §Camera, carrier schematic, SoC TRM, Module Design Guide.dtc,cpp,fdtoverlayon PATH.
Procedure
Detailed step-by-step procedure (Steps 1–7, with all tables, code
blocks, and gates) lives in
references/procedure.md. Summary:
Step 1 — Resolve active target + open source-of-truth docs.
Step 2 — Enumerate supported sensors by globbing in-tree per-platform camera dtbos; classify as DPHY-direct / GMSL / custom. Never invent sensors.
Step 3 / 3a — Cross-check carrier + module support against DTSI, Camera Development Guide, Adaptation Guide §Camera, SoC TRM, Module Design Guide, schematic, and carrier pinmap. Render the wiring table FIRST, then issue the confirm-or-customize gate.
Step 4 (custom path only) — Batched per-sensor wiring questions auto-filled from the carrier pinmap.
Step 5 — Append exactly ONE
/* custom-bsp: camera:<sensor> */fragment to the composite custom overlay.dts(see../../references/bsp-customization-kernel-dtb.md). Clone path cpp-expands the in-tree DTSI; custom path splices Step-4 answers + mode tables in-place. Idempotently setjetson-header-nameon the composite root. Verify withdtc+fdtoverlay(pre-compile single-fragment gate; post-compile deep-tree uniqueness gate). Commit via the workflow's commit-message preview gate.Step 6 — Verify ancillary CAM pin SFIOs (
cam_i2c_*,extperiph<m>_clk, reset/PWDN/PWR_EN GPIOs) viapin_verifier.py; route mismatches to/jetson-customize-pinmux.Step 7 — Atomic-write run-state JSON sidecar at
<workspace>/target-platform/<profile-stem>.jetson-customize-camera.jsonand emit the headline, then drive the downstream next-step chain via sequentialAskUserQuestionprompts perreferences/procedure.mdStep 7. The chain is a documented workflow gate, not a clarifying question — auto-mode does NOT exempt it. Never substitute a printed "Next step: …" line for the prompts.
Gotchas
Dual-fragment trap. Contribute exactly ONE camera-tagged
fragment@Nto the composite. A second one carrying status overrides triggers dtc deep-merge → duplicate sibling subtrees (e.g. twotca9546@70) → runtime first-match drops the dtsi- supplied deep tree → camera silently doesn't enumerate. Gate on this skill's marker only (Step 5c).Composite root
compatibleis owned globally, not by this skill. Don't widen from any in-tree per-sensor dtbo'scompatible(devkit-SKU-gated). Fix the composite root if needed.jetson-header-namefrom any in-tree per-sensor dtbo. Fixed, carrier-agnostic; read once, paste onto the metadata root.DO NOT also append the in-tree per-sensor dtbo to
OVERLAY_DTB_FILE. Registering both your rendered overlay AND the in-treetegra<soc>-p3971-camera-<sensor>-overlay.dtboproduces a phantom subdev bind that bricks camera enumeration.Stub overlay is a known footgun. Committing
tegra-capture-vi { status="okay"; num-channels=<N>; }with no ports / sensor / nvcsi body bricks the camera (all channel init failed). Splice the FULL sensor body via cpp + dtc.Sensor mode tables must be spliced, never hand-authored.
mode<N>,sensor_modes,pixel_phase— copy verbatim from the closest in-tree DTSI.camera_common_regulator_get (null) ERR: -EINVAL= missingavdd-reg/iovdd-reg/dvdd-regstrings — splice the FULL sensor body; always-on rails fall back to dummy regulator.External
&labelrefs must exist in base DTB's__symbols__. Usetarget-path = "/tegra-capture-vi"when the label is absent;fdtoverlayexits non-zero withFDT_ERR_NOTFOUNDotherwise.cppfailure ondt-bindings/gpio/gpio.h: No such file= L4T source tree isn't staged. Re-run/jetson-init-source(Branch B'ssource_sync.shfetches the headers). Never fabricate the macro expansion.No ODMDATA edit, no flash-conf edit. Camera doesn't consume UPHY lanes. The carrier conf's
ODMDATA="..."is untouched.OVERLAY_DTB_FILE+=is owned by/jetson-build-sourceStep 5.0a — this skill never touches the carrier flash conf.Don't touch the upstream BSP at
<bsp_image.root_path>. All edits land in<source.root_path>/Linux_for_Tegra/(overlay tracker) and<source.root_path>/bsp_sources/(overlay.dts) under the pristine + customization commit pattern.
References
references/procedure.md— full step-by-step Steps 1–7 procedure (extracted from this SKILL.md).references/csi-dt-bindings.md— CSI / nvcsi / vi DT binding reference notes.references/overlay-template.md— guidance on the metadata-root + clone-body overlay shape.references/camera-overlay-templates/— starter.dts.tmpltemplates:dphy-direct.dts.tmpl,gmsl-serdes.dts.tmpl.../../scripts/pin_verifier.py— shared HSIO pin verifier (Step 6).../../references/platform_template.yaml—documents:block consumed by Step 1.../../context/bsp-customization-workflow.md— overlay edit protocol.../jetson-customize-pinmux/SKILL.md— sibling skill auto-invoked by Step 6 to fix HSIO pin SFIO mismatches (CAM I²C, MCLK, reset GPIOs).../jetson-derive-carrier/SKILL.md— must run first; produces the carrier base overlay (the*-dynamic.dtbo) this skill's composite stacks after.../jetson-init-source/SKILL.md— produces the overlay tracker +bsp_sourcesrepo (with thehardware/nvidia/<chip-dir>/per-sensor DTSI tree) this skill reads and commits into.
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer932 B
- BENCHMARK.md3.8 KiB
- LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer11.2 KiB
- SKILL.md9.6 KiB
- evals/evals.json5.3 KiB
- references/camera-overlay-templates/README.md2.6 KiB
- references/camera-overlay-templates/dphy-direct.dts.tmpl8.2 KiB
- references/camera-overlay-templates/gmsl-serdes.dts.tmpl8.2 KiB
- references/csi-dt-bindings.md3.6 KiB
- references/overlay-template.md7.5 KiB
- references/procedure.md17.0 KiB
- skill-card.md3.8 KiB
- skill.oms.sig6.0 KiB
LICENSE
Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
Apache License
Version 2.0, January 2004
http://www.apache.org/licenses/
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
1. Definitions.
"License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.
"Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
the copyright owner that is granting the License.
"Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
"control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
"You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
exercising permissions granted by this License.
"Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
including but not limited to software source code, documentation
source, and configuration files.
"Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
and conversions to other media types.
"Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
(an example is provided in the Appendix below).
"Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
the Work and Derivative Works thereof.
"Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."
"Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
subsequently incorporated within the Work.
2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
(except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
as of the date such litigation is filed.
4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
meet the following conditions:
(a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
Derivative Works a copy of this License; and
(b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
stating that You changed the files; and
(c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
the Derivative Works; and
(d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
as modifying the License.
You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
the conditions stated in this License.
5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
with Licensor regarding such Contributions.
6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.
8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.
To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following
boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]"
replaced with your own identifying information. (Don't include
the brackets!) The text should be enclosed in the appropriate
comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a
file or class name and description of purpose be included on the
same "printed page" as the copyright notice for easier
identification within third-party archives.
Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
Requirements and compatibility
Written for: Claude Code
Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta
“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.
Needs: Names Claude Code tools
Security
What our scanner noticed· Medium risk
- Large base64-encoded blobs
A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.
Attribution and licence
- Created by
- Jetson Team
- Publisher
- NVIDIA (Official)
- Distributed by
- NVIDIA
- Source
- NVIDIA/skills · skills/jetson-customize-camera · commit fce3cca
- Licence
- Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE-APACHE)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Jetson Team or NVIDIA.
Download ZIP
The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download jetson-customize-camera.zip